"Sounds of Silence" and "Parsley, Sage, Rosemary, and Thyme" were virtual anthems for a period in history, which now seems almost quaint. But there was a time, around the late 60's/early 70's, when people actually believed that if they got together peacefully, they could change the world. And they did, but not in the way they'd imagined.

Simon & Garfunkel were popular long before Mike Nichols used their songs as underscore in THE GRADUATE, though that exposure only increased their popularity. In fact, there were a lot of people at the time who believed all the songs in the film had been written for it, which was not the case.

There has never been an "official" soundtrack album for THE GRADUATE, since all the songs were collected from different Columbia albums which S&G did. So what you saw at the time were stickers on lp's, which stated, "As Heard in "THE GRADUATE."

... Simon & Garfunkel were popular long before Mike Nichols used their songs as underscore in THE GRADUATE, though that exposure only increased their popularity. In fact, there were a lot of people at the time who believed all the songs in the film had been written for it, which was not the case.

There has never been an "official" soundtrack album for THE GRADUATE, since all the songs were collected from different Columbia albums which S&G did. So what you saw at the time were stickers on lp's, which stated, "As Heard in "THE GRADUATE."

I've always understood that the song Mrs. Robinson was written for the film ... otherwise I agree with you. I'm too young (ha!) to recall the film's original release - and my mother was aghast when I went to see the film (in a double bill with Michael Caine's Play Dirty which was my reason for going) but the film cemented my affection for the song Sound of Silence ... it's so much a better listen than that nomenclature song, IMHO.

Whilst I like Bridge Over Troubled Water and a number of their other popular songs, as stated above, I'm not too taken with their album tracks. As for the aforementioned For Emily ... , it's the live version which really works for me, so much better than the album recording.

I'm not taken with either artist's solo works and firmly believe that Art was the better vocalist.

easy for me to answer that The dangling conversation- says everything about life in 2 minutes and 44 seconds, haunting melody, nicely sung and arraign and lyrics as good and sadly true as any song ever made.

I was a huge fan as a teen -- I had purchased the solo UK import Paul Simon album when I saw it in an lp shop on a trip to Denver, Colorado, because it looked "interesting" and I was going through a folk phase. Then bought the duo stuff when Paul and Art started releasing material.

The song that always reduces me to tears is "America" which I find just incredibly sad, beautiful, and heartbreaking -- it mirrors an experience I had in my teens so the closeness I feel for the song is entirely personal. But it is an amazing song.

I love Simon and Garfunkel. The quality in their work is amazing and the style, unlike most popular music of any area, feels timeless, transcending the time in which it written. It is also amazing to have lyrics worthy of poetry where the music doesn't feel outclassed. Though there are a couple exceptions, a typical Leonard Cohen song, for example, feels lacking musically relative to the lyrics. But I also think that is a very difficult combination to pull off - a lot of really good music is designed for mediocre lyrics - poetry usually doesn't work.

I'd say my favorite is Sound of Silence. The harmony on My Little Town is sent down from the heavens "Saving my money, dreaming of glory...", Amerian Tune is very nice and I agree with a lot of the other choices.

I've been listening to Simon & Garfunkel for years too. I got the chance to see them live about 6 or 7 years ago, and they were excellent. I'm actually a huge fan of Artie as a solo artist, I've seen him live many times and met him a few times as well. I have all his solo work.

This is a favourite Simon & Garfunkel song for me...

Absolutely beautiful. Garfunkel's vocal on "For Emily..." is among his very best, IMO.

There has never been an "official" soundtrack album for THE GRADUATE, since all the songs were collected from different Columbia albums which S&G did. So what you saw at the time were stickers on lp's, which stated, "As Heard in "THE GRADUATE."

I'm confused by the above statement. What is this, if not an "official" soundtrack album? It was released on 21 January 1968, one month to the day after the film premiered in New York.

Technically that isn't a Simon & Garfunkel song. It was first released on Paul's solo album, 'There Goes Rhymin' Simon' (1973) after he and Artie had split. They did perform it together live afterwards. I agree, it's a great song.